Slate & Tile Roof Restoration in Lakeview, New Orleans
The neighborhood the 17th Street Canal breach destroyed in 2005, now largely rebuilt. Most roofs here are ten to twenty years old, on elevated houses built to post-storm standards — a completely different job from the historic core.
- Largely rebuilt post-2005
- Elevated above base flood elevation
- Modern codes, modern assemblies
Lakeview building stock, and what it means for a roof
Lakeview sat under several feet of water when the 17th Street Canal floodwall failed in 2005, and the neighborhood that stands today is overwhelmingly a rebuilt one. Significant portions were reconstructed from the ground up, elevated above base flood elevation and built to post-storm standards with updated systems throughout.
That gives Lakeview a roofing profile unlike anywhere in the historic core: mostly architectural shingle, mostly ten to twenty years old, on modern engineered framing with proper underlayment and ventilation designed in. The work here is rarely archaeology. It is assessing an assembly that was built correctly, has taken fifteen to twenty Gulf summers, and is entering the part of its life where the details start to matter.
Why Lakeview roofs fail the way they do
Three things we see repeatedly on this stock — not a generic list, and not the same three as the next neighborhood over.
Rebuild-era coverings maturing
A 2007 roof is now eighteen years into a Gulf Coast service life. Sound, but at the age where inspection stops being optional.
Elevated exposure
Raising a house above flood elevation also raises it into more wind. Elevated houses take more uplift load than their neighbors did before 2005.
Variable rebuild quality
The rebuild happened fast and under pressure. Workmanship across Lakeview varies more than the uniform look of the streets suggests.
Keeping a historic roof rather than losing it
A slate or clay tile roof that is shedding units is usually not finished. It is usually telling you something specific, and the specific answer is cheaper than the general one.
- Establish what is actually failing. On most historic roofs the slate outlives the copper. Valleys, step flashing and gutter linings go first, and the symptom presents as a slate problem.
- Match rather than substitute. Replacement slates are matched on color, size and thickness; tile is sourced to profile. The HDLC and the VCC both treat a visible mismatch as a change to the building, not a repair to it.
- Check the fixings, not just the units. Nail fatigue is what makes a slate roof start dropping slates at random rather than in one area. That is a re-fixing job, not a re-roofing job.
- Respect the deck. Original plank decking under a century-old slate roof behaves differently from modern sheathing, and modern underlayment has to be specified to suit it.
- Document for review. Before-and-after photographs and a written material schedule are what a historic-district review actually wants to see.
What the commissions will not accept
Design guidance for the local historic districts is explicit that standing seam metal is typically not an appropriate material to replace asphalt, slate or asbestos roofing. Traditional slate and clay tile are supported for restoration, and modern substitutes are permitted only where they match in material and color. If a contractor proposes stripping your slate for metal because it is quicker, that is a review problem as well as a preservation one.
A re-roofing permit is required in Orleans Parish — and three different commissions may review it
Residential re-roofing permits are applied for through the Department of Safety and Permits. Properties inside a historic district require additional review time before the permit is issued.
Four stages, no surprises
Inspection
Someone goes onto the roof. Not a drive-by, not a satellite image — the covering, the flashing, the valleys and the deck condition, looked at directly.
Diagnosis
What has failed and why, traced to the actual entry point rather than the spot where water shows up inside.
Written scope
What we found, what we propose, and what it costs, in writing with photographs. No number quoted cold over the phone.
The work
Carried out to the agreed scope, dried in each day, site cleared, and documented for your records and your insurer.
Working around 17th Street Canal, Lakeshore Drive, Harrison Avenue and the surrounding streets. If your address is in Lakeview, it is in the service area — there is no travel surcharge anywhere inside Orleans Parish.
Slate & Tile Roof Restoration near Lakeview
Everything else we do in Lakeview
Slate & Tile Roof Restoration in Lakeview — straight answers
Can my slate roof be repaired rather than replaced?
Usually, yes. Slate is one of the few coverings where individual units genuinely can be replaced, and a roof dropping the occasional slate is more often telling you the fixings or the copper valleys are tired than that the slate itself is finished.
Can I put metal on instead? It is cheaper.
Not in a local historic district, in most cases. Design guidance is explicit that standing seam metal is typically not an appropriate replacement for asphalt, slate or asbestos roofing in these districts. Traditional slate and clay tile are supported for restoration, and substitutes have to match in material and color.
How do you match a slate or tile that is no longer made?
On color, size and thickness for slate, and on profile for tile, sourcing salvaged or matched stock rather than putting the nearest available item on the roof. A visible mismatch is treated by the HDLC and the VCC as a change to the building rather than a repair to it.
My house was rebuilt after Katrina — is the roof due for replacement?
It is due for a proper inspection, and the insurance dimension makes that worth doing now rather than later. A roof laid during the 2006 to 2008 rebuild is fifteen to twenty years old, which is exactly the age band where Louisiana carriers start asking for a condition inspection at renewal. Knowing the answer before your insurer asks puts you in a much better position than finding out during a non-renewal conversation.
Slate & Tile Roof Restoration in Lakeview?
Call and we will get someone on the roof, then put what we find in writing.